Dear all,
I want formally introduce to you Wikimedia Ukraine’s Board, elected by our
General Assembly on December 27, 2015.
We can do it only now, as we have just recently successfully completed the
requirements from our state to change the people responsible for the
chapter officially [1].
Three people has decided not to run this year, and I want to thank them
wholeheartedly for all their time and efforts spent on our projects and
making this world better for a change:
-
[[User:Amakuha]], Andrii Makuha. He has been our Chair for the last two
years; his calm personality helped us a lot, especially during the most
turbulent times of transferring «power» from one to another Chapter Board
«without pain» [2], as Andrii has tried his best to understand everyone and
continue the dialogues even when it seems that we won’t be able to come to
any acceptable terms. By the way, awarding Wikizghushchivka [3] was his
idea.
-
[[User:NickK]], Mykola Kozlenko, our Treasurer, with great analytical
skills and profound knowledge about the Community (and I am talking not
only about our local community, but the global one as well) and the
Wikimedia Movement. He is actively engaged in Wikimedia Ukraine’s projects,
though he lives in France and can contribute almost only via Internet. But
he was able to be a vital part of organizing the rather successful regional
conference WIkimedia CEE Meeting in Kyiv in December 2014.
-
[[User:Ліонкінг]], Levon Azizian. He is a lawyer in real life, a
passionate Wiki(m|p)edian. He is blessed with the skills to make the
<s>dreams</s> ideas come into reality, as he is very convincing and one
just gets the feeling that (s)he can do it. And so they do it :) And then
there is only a pure wonder of: wow, we have organized a wikiconference in
2 weeks; wow, we have organized a CEE Meeting in a month; wow, we can
actually (but it is really hard!) organize wikitrainings for two weeks
non-stop in Luhansk region, go to librarians, preach about editing
Wikipedia… and just around the corner there is a real war zone…
These three are my dear friends, and I was really sorry to see them not
running. But it was our dream from a long ago: to have more great
Wiki(m|p)edians join the chapter and get interested in our projects. So
here we have our newly elected three Board members:
-
[[User:Olena Zakharian]], Olena Zakharian. She was (and still is!) our
press secretary, she is very keen about Nature and Freedom of Speech, she
believes in our Mission and has contributed greatly to most of our projects
before and she is a crucial part of our Board becoming more transparent for
our Community.
-
[[User:Helgi]], Oleh Yatsozhynskyi. He is an active member of Ukrainian
Wikipedia community, he has joined the organization only in September, but
he is an invaluable part of us now (especially his directness :)) He is
responsible for Wikiexpeditions now [4], and he is full of ideas and desire
to implement them (and that’s something really really important, you know)
-
[[User:Pavlo1]], Pavlo Lakiichuk. He is the Secretary of the Board now,
so he is responsible for all the boring stuff around the process of making
decisions. He is also an active member of our local community, he cares
about wikiprojects a lot. He has initiated a number of meetings for
creators of “real” encyclopedias and wikipedians to talk a few issues over
and get to know each other better (well, it works! quite a few myths were
dismissed by talking over a cup of tea :) )
The other four members of the Board, re-elected for this year, are:
-
[[User:Ilya]], Illia Korniiko. He is our Chair now. He codes. :) WLX
Jury Tool is his pet project, but he was deprived of almost all chances to
work on it, as our state’s bureaucratic system is quite a monster to
overcome...
-
[[User:Юрій Булка]], Yurii Bulka. He is responsible for Wikipedia
Education Program in Ukraine. And he was the one to suggest and implement
the project of digitizing and making available the phonograph cylinder
collection of Filaret Kolessa (early 20th century) [5]
-
[[User:Friend]], Pavlo Sokhan. He is an administrator of uk.wikiquote,
works in a library. He has contributed greatly into organizing of the first
Wikimedia CEE Spring article contest in 2015. He is now responsible for our
book scanning kit [6] and we hope to get lots of stuff scanned and uploaded
to Wikiprojects :)
-
and [[user:antanana]], Nataliia Tymkiv. I am an administrator of
Ukrainian Wikipedia, and I am quite active in a lot of Wikimedia Ukraine’s
projects. I am a member of Simple Annual Plan Grants Committee [7]
I am sorry for a bit long introduction. But I do believe that it is vital
for us all to work together, so even if you do not read the whole letter
and remember all the names, you’ll be able to find the info about the right
person to reach to, should you need to meet somebody in Ukraine or find the
answer.
Best regards,
[[User:antanana]] / Nataliia Tymkiv
Vice-Chair of the Board of Wikimedia Ukraine
[1] Well, they have changed a couple of laws during this period, so it was
not a pleasant task to do :)
[2]
https://wikimania2015.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Submissions/How_to_transfer_%…
[3] The project is aimed at peer recognition and appreciation of new and
active editors' contribution by monthly awarding a can of Wikizghushchivka
(condensed milk) to the editor with the most contributions in that month
and the new editor with the most contributions in that month
[4] We have a very detailed (day-by-day) report, maps, videos, photos,
created and illustrated articles now:
https://ua.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3465
[5]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Filaret_Kolessa_phonograph_cylinder_coll…
[6] https://ua.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3448
[7]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Simple/Committee#committee-membe…
I found this the most interesting part of the recent IdeaLab discussion
about changing the Wikimania framework.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Towards_a_New_Wikimania
"*The total spend by WMF for Wikimania 2014 in London and 2015 in Mexico,
including all travel, accommodations, scholarships, staff support and
direct conference expenses, was ~$1 million USD*"
This is a pity. Small grants to support a con is one thing, but this is too
much.
Please let's stop encouraging conferences that do not cover their own
costs. A good conference series pays for itself, including its scholarship
pool. There are plenty of communities our size or larger with wonderful,
regular conferences of hundreds or thousands of people, which break even or
turn a small profit.
FUDCons are an interesting case in point. As I understand it, there was a
time when RedHat basically sponsored the events, with scholarships for all
active contributors and extensive grants. This was ok, but skewed
participation. Then the lavish sponsorship stopped. Attendance dropped;
community members felt unloved. Then after a time, this passed, and
everyone attended again. (Perhaps a core Fedora contributor can describe
this more accurately!)
SJ
Hi WikiFriends,
*We need your suggestions and feedback. *
We are planning a few initiatives for WikiProject India (English
Wikipedia). For a long time we have been feeling:
- *On one hand:* WikiProject India is one of the largest projects in
Wikimedia
- *On the other hand: *We sometimes face it difficult to organize simple
co-ordination projects.
We are planning a few initiatives, *please see*:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Noticeboard_for_India-related_…
If you have a look at this, you'll clearly understand that we are not
planning anything big at this moment.
Please share you suggestions.
PS. The main project page is here on Meta Wiki:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiProject_India_Nurturing and here on
English Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_India/Project_WIN
Regards.
Relevant to the discussion on Foundation issues... The NY Times reports on Google's research into what made some teams succeed and some fail.
Short answer: Team norms to respect the individual members, for everyone to get a chance to talk and contribute and be heard.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-…
George William Herbert
Sent from my iPhone
I am starting a new thread because I disagree with the idea that the WMF
should be a high-tech organization as the other thread by Brion seemed to
suggest. Yes, technology is a tool that we use in our mission to gather and
process all forms of human knowledge, but in the end the driving force is
volunteership.
Without volunteers there wouldn't be any movement and there wouldn't be any
need for tools, or any donations whatsoever. It is the concept of working
for free for the common good that allows us to exist and fulfill our
mission. The WMF is instrumental in providing the tools for it to happen,
but those tools are not only technological, they are also legal,
educational, and social, however when talking through computer screens we
seem to forget that.
A hi-tech tool can work for a given task or not, but there are more
important topics like trust, commitment, empowerment, motivation, and joy
that cannot be assessed so easily, and that are at least as crucial as any
software. What is the point of having a perfect tool Z if I don't enjoy
working with my fellows on a common mission?
The role of nurturing volunteers is not exclusive of affiliate
organizations, the WMF offer grants to volunteers and organizes several
gatherings. Is that enough to strengthen the volunteer community? Then I
look at organizations like WOOF or workaway that thrive with full-time
volunteers and I wonder if more opportunities could be opened for our
volunteers.
Is there anything holding us back to try new things besides old patterns of
participation?
It is a challenge to do more for the volunteer community without resorting
to grants or payment, but that is the key to succeed as a volunteer
organization, to provide an ecosystem where personal growth is possible.
I am interested in hearing what others have to say about it. Maybe it is
possible to gather ideas or even a team of people who wants to research
more information about the topic.
Cheers,
Micru
So...
BrewDog, a Scotland-based "hipster brewery" - for want of a better phrase -
have just "open-sourced" their entire recipe collection.
You can read more at https://www.brewdog.com/lowdown/blog/diy-dog.
It's not entirely clear what "licence" they're using but they say:
*"copy them, tear them to pieces, bastardise them, adapt them, but most of
all, enjoy them. They are well travelled but with plenty of miles still
left on the clock. Just remember to share your brews, and share your
results. Sharing is caring."*
I guess "free as in beer" has a slightly different meaning now!
Richard Symonds
Wikimedia UK
0207 065 0992
Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and
Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered
Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT.
United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia
movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who
operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
*Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control
over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*
Here is a note that I just sent to the staff mailing list (stuck in a
queue at the moment, so some staff will see it here first.).
Hi everyone!
I am coming to San Francisco on Saturday for a few days to meet with a
lot of you. I know many of you are not actually in San Francisco, so
I'll be sure to set aside time for remote meetings as well.
By now you of course have heard that Lila is leaving us, and my hope is
that we're going to enter a new era of stability and productivity. And
for that to happen, the board - including me - needs to hear from you,
to listen and learn.
Brion Vibber, who I hired as the first ever employee of the Foundation,
said this to me on Facebook recently: "Jimmy Wales welcome back to the
conversation. I look forward to how you address the current crisis, and
hope it will involve the kind of careful listening and thoughtful
consideration that I remember from 2001."
That's what I want, too. I want to listen and I want to help the board
make good decisions.
For me, the mission - a free encyclopedia for every single person on the
planet, in their own language - is what brought us all together. It's
what keeps us going even in difficult times. But my view is that it
doesn't have to be difficult times. Working at the WMF should be - and
will be, I really think - a joy: the joy of working with the best
colleagues, the joy of doing work that matters to the world, and the joy
of working for the fantastic global community of Wikipedians.
I'll be reaching out to some of you - probably starting with people I
already know - but please reach out to me as well if you'd like to meet.
I'm in SF from Saturday afternoon through Wednesday evening, so
depending on demand, I may not be able to see everyone, but I'd like to
get a good overview.
--Jimbo
Hi Patrick,
'workshop' shouts to me that it is a real life, real time event that people
can register for, and attend (in person or remotely). The page seems to
suggest however (at a quick glance) that it is rather an online discussion
forum. Maybe good to clarify that immediately at the top of the page, given
the potentially confusing title that it has.
Another thing I would find helpful (maybe a bit too obvious for you) is
clearly stating expectations and goals at the top. What are you trying to
accomplish? (options that come to mind is reducing harassment, or helping
people to deal with (accept? fight? hide?) harrassment. I expect the
first).
Finally, a thing that was also mentioned by Liz at the page (and maybe by
others), is that in a multilingual community like ours, it is really tough
to discuss sensitive issues like this without a very clear understanding of
what we're talking about. People probably have very different expectations
of what you mean with 'harrassment'. My first thought with the word was
basically sexual or physical harrassment, with real life or near-real life
aspects. At Wikimania I got a better understanding that apparently others
were using a much wider definition of the word.
Hopefully will clarifications like the above on the page reduce the
threshold to participate, especially for those that are not native speakers
(and who have more trouble to read through the whole page to get an
understanding).
Best,
Lodewijk
(also posted this on the talkpage)
On Sat, Feb 27, 2016 at 3:27 AM, Patrick Earley <pearley(a)wikimedia.org>
wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> With a lot of discussion on multiple issues going on, I know it can be
> hard to find time or "bandwidth" for an problem with no easy solutions.
> But some of the community has started to work on some approaches to the
> problem of harassment at the workshop on Meta. [1]
>
> It's an issue that isn't going away on its own, and we've started
> gathering some possible ways forward. We'd love to see you there.
>
> [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Harassment_workshop
>
> Best regards,
>
> --
> Patrick Earley
> Senior Community Advocate
> Wikimedia Foundation
> pearley(a)wikimedia.org
> (1) 415 975 1874
>
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>
No, I am not making a general statement about what should go in the
minutes. But in this case, the chair of the board (and others, I believe)
have misrepresented things. I mentioned the vote (irrespective of whether I
can prove it) as a piece of evidence that exists to prove the decision was
not unanimous.
--
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
www.opentextbookofmedicine.com
I have been sent a possible correction. When I had stated a "formal vote"
had taken place some are of the position that this was simple a straw poll.
Not sure if Geoff Brigham can clarify.
--
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
www.opentextbookofmedicine.com